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Scouting Camera
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In 1996 I purchased a scouting camera to try to reveal the mysterious, nocturnal monsters that I thought were roaming our property in the dark of night. After all, I knew that monster bucks had to be eluding me during the daylight hours only to roam the woods at night.
After a couple of years of using the camera I was very disappointed. The camera worked fine and we had many pictures of deer, but they were the same does and spike bucks that I was seeing during the day. Something must be wrong; I knew that there had to be big bucks stalking the hillsides at night. After all, everyone always said "you know there is a big one in there somewhere".
After many rolls of film and an equal number of anxious trips to retrieve developed pictures I came to realize that there simply were not any mystical trophy bucks roaming our property.
This scouting camera was the proof that I needed to convince myself that the problem was not nocturnal deer but it was actually a deer management problem.
In the eight years since that initial camera purchase I have gotten pictures of bucks that I had not seen, but this wasn't until after I had implemented a quality deer management plan on our property. If mature bucks are not on your property you will not get a picture of them and you will definitely not see them.
I have learned a lot by using this trail camera. You can get approximate buck to doe ratios simply by observing the ratios that are in the pictures. Also it is easier to estimate the quality of the bucks on your property once you have a picture that you can study. You will also get pictures of the other wildlife that make their homes on your property.
With a scouting camera you can practically perform 24 hour scouting, especially with the new digital scouting cameras. For those of us who work it is difficult to spend a lot of time scouting, but the camera can be your eyes.
A scouting camera cannot find bucks that are not there but they do a real good job of letting you know what is.
Camera Placement
Where do you put your scouting camera? This is one of the fun parts of having one. Deciding where to put the camera is just like deciding where to hunt.
The easiest way to get pictures of whitetail deer is to have something that attracts them. If you do this, a camera can take a lot of pictures in a short period of time. Be careful of your delay settings on your camera or you will get a lot of pictures of the same deer but this isn't always bad if it is a nice buck.
It is interesting to put the camera up at various places such as: well used trails, scrapes, rubs, food plots and minerals licks. I'm sure that you can think of a few places where you would like to know how much deer activity takes place there.
Most scouting cameras have the ability to place the date and time on the photograph. This can be very helpful in determining the time of day the deer show up at your particular hotspot.
Set Up Tips
There are a few things that will help ensure that you will not be disappointed with your scouting camera.
Try not to place the camera where it is facing into either the rising or setting sun.
Clear weeds away from the front of the camera so that you do not get pictures of weeds swaying in the breeze.
Do not set your camera up too close or far away from where you expect the deer to travel. A camera set up on a tree within 3 feet of the trail is too close whereas most flashes cannot reach much beyond 30 feet or so.
Fresh batteries. It is very disappointing to find out that you didn't get many pictures because your batteries have died. Rechargeable batteries are gaining popularity lately.
I advise buying a trail camera that has a locking device. It would be too easy for someone to walk away with your camera if it is not locked.
The exciting part is seeing a picture of a nice buck that you didn't know was on your property. These pictures help you get out of bed on those cold mornings and make you stay in your stand longer when you get bored. Get yourself a camera and have fun with it.
Visit the Digital Scouting Camera Page to read about the EagleEye digital scouting camera.
Visit the Cuddeback Camera Page to read about our experience with a Cuddeback Digital.
Leave the Scouting Camera Page and visit the Digital Scouting Camera Page.
Leave the Scouting Camera Page and visit the Whitetail Deer Pictures Page.
Leave the Scouting Camera Page and visit the 35mm Deer Trail Camera Page.
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